Massachusetts Queen Anne Highboy, ca. 1752
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GUEST:
In 1752, my great-great-great-great-great-grandfather made it for his daughter Lucy when she got married. I inherited from my grandfather.
APPRAISER:
Where were they from?
GUEST:
They were from Massachusetts.
APPRAISER:
Looking at the piece overall, it fits right into 1752, what we would expect from a design perspective.
GUEST:
Mh-hmm.
APPRAISER:
It's beautiful, sort of classic, simple lines. There's lots of symmetry. If you look, the veneer on the drawers is book-matched…
GUEST:
Mh-hmm.
APPRAISER:
…and it's sort of a mirror image, side to side. There's not much carved ornament, but this is, sort of, the days of simple beauty. It's really in good condition…
GUEST:
(chuckles)
APPRAISER:
…and I guess over all those years you think of the…
GUEST:
Mh-hmm.
APPRAISER:
…wagons it's been on, and the-- what this piece has seen, the journey it's taken is remarkable.
GUEST:
Yes, yes.
APPRAISER:
There is an interesting note here, just to help shore up the family provenance.
GUEST:
Mh-hmm.
APPRAISER:
Conveniently, somebody wrote very early on…
GUEST:
Yes.
APPRAISER:
…a label here that recounts that history that you told me. The original label is here, which is very hard to read.
GUEST:
Right (laughs). Yeah.
APPRAISER:
But, happily, someone transcribed it here.
GUEST:
Yes.
APPRAISER:
The Appleton family, they were in Ipswich, Massachusetts…
GUEST:
Mh-hmm.
APPRAISER:
…which is where I think this was made, since the 1600s.
GUEST:
Yeah.
APPRAISER:
John Appleton-- all of the genealogy that's recounted here matches up…
GUEST:
Mh-hmm.
APPRAISER:
…with what I could find in a quick look.
GUEST:
Ah.
APPRAISER:
So his daughter marries in 1752.
GUEST:
Mh-hmm.
APPRAISER:
He's listed as a "joiner," which is another word for a cabinetmaker and a craftsman. So all of that fits together. This is the first piece I've seen with an attribution to that maker. He's not a well-known maker, but I have no reason to question that history. So how long have you had it?
GUEST:
Probably around 1975.
APPRAISER:
Have you ever had it appraised?
GUEST:
No.
APPRAISER:
No? Take a guess.
GUEST:
Depending on condition and things, and it's not a famous maker, I was thinking maybe $10,000.
APPRAISER:
Okay. Part of the story of the piece is carried forward generation to generation.
GUEST:
Mh-hmm.
APPRAISER:
Things come and go out of fashion, and we've seen that swaying in popularity over the years. I think in the current market, we have more people of your generation starting to deaccession things…
GUEST:
Mh-hmm.
APPRAISER:
…and fewer people on the buy side.
GUEST:
Yeah.
APPRAISER:
And you have all the ingredients here for a home run, because it's in great shape…
GUEST:
Mh-hmm.
APPRAISER:
…you have all this family history, the form is good, all of that is right.
GUEST:
Mh-hmm.
APPRAISER:
But the one ingredient, the most important ingredient in putting a value on is, who wants it?
GUEST:
Yeah.
APPRAISER:
Demand is the real arbiter of value, above all of those other things.
GUEST:
Mh-hmm.
APPRAISER:
I think in the current market, I would put an auction estimate of $5,000 to $7,000 on it.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
I think ten years ago, that probably would have been $15,000 to $20,000.
GUEST:
Mh-hmm.
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